Advising the County Board, Elected Officials Pay, Warming House, Affordable Housing,

Want to Help the County by Guiding it Services?

Olmsted County Advisory Board Positions are Available

Advisory Board Positions are an opportunity for people to get involved in the community.  You can view the voluntary boards and commissions here:  https://www.co.olmsted.mn.us/news/Pages/VolunteerOlmstedCountyadvisoryboardpositionsavailable.aspx

To request a volunteer application or ask questions, please email AdministrationClerical@co.olmsted.mn.us

 

Pay for Elected Officials

The County Board raised the pay for elected officials.

  • County Attorney was raised $7,938 (from $176,391 to $184,329)
  • County Sheriff was raised $6,415 (from $142,561 to $148,976)
  • Commissioners was raised $5,180 (from $43,820   to $49,000)

I supported these reasonable raises.

 

County Park Receives $2.3 Million Legacy Fund Grant

The County Park system is planning a major improvement for the Oxbow Nature Center and Zollman Zoo.  The Minnesota Legacy Fund has grant money for worthy projects to improve recreational sites in Minnesota.  As a member of the Olmsted County Park Board I supported the building project and the application for Grant Money.  The Olmsted project was awarded 2.3 Million dollars for its first phase of the Nature Center Project.  The total cost of the project is estimated to be around 7 Million to completed in three phases.  Olmsted County Park Board will apply for Legacy grants for each phase.  This is good news for Olmsted residents because the Oxbow nature center is the most visited recreation and educational site in the county.  Currently, the Nature center has to turn away elementary school groups because it does not have the capacity to serve them; the building project when finished will now be able to accommodate more education groups and improve the Nature Center experience for Parents and Grandparents.

 

Warming House.

The warming house is now open and has between 15 and 20 guests each night since it was open.  Olmsted County will also use the Soldiers Field Clubhouse as an overflow if the maximum of 30 guests is exceeded.  The warming house is accepting donation.  If you wish to donate please contact Catholic Charities of Southern Minnesota website: ccsomn.org/donate-to-the-rochester-community-warming-center/

 

Affordable Housing

In 2019 HRA added 150 units of rental assistance.  There is still a gap in the number of families that need rental assistance and the number of available units.  I supported the efforts of HRA to add units and will continue to support the creation of addition units.  A housing unit that will be open soon is the Mayowood Supportive Housing that will be built on Mayowood Road next to the Waters Senior Housing.  I look forward to the ground breaking for the Mayowood Supportive Housing project in late summer or early fall 2020.  This will be the first phase of the housing project.

 

$10,000 donation

Olmsted County received an anonymous $10,000 donation to build a pavilion at the White Bridge Park.  (This County Park is at Lake Zumbro.  It is likely the park will be re-named in the near future.)  A grateful thank you goes to the anonymous donors.  The County Park at Lake Zumbro will soon be a top-notch park that will provide parking, canoe and kayak launching site, fishing pier, and picnic areas.  The Park will also include a public boat launch ramp.   Construction on the first phase of the park will begin summer 2020.